~ Standing up for Public Education

Monthly Archives: July 2015

Florida symbolizes the unbearable ridiculousness of school reform. The “Best & Brightest” is a $10,000 bonus that new hires can earn immediately if their high school SAT or ACT scores were above the 80th percentile. Veteran teachers can’t get the cash until they earn a “highly effective” rating based on student test scores AND prove they ranked in the top 20% with their own ACT or SAT scores. All this must happen before the October 1st deadline.

From the start, the $44 million dollar Best and Brightest Incentive bill by Rep. Erik Fresen was an oddity. It died on its second committee reading in the House and was DOA in the Senate. Normally, that would have been fatal but Florida legislators are famous for damning procedure to pass whatever they want. So the Best & Brightest was tucked into Florida’s 2015-16 budget and became law.

Aside from Fresen, there was little love for this bill. Seasoned Republican Senator Nancy Detert called the Best and the Brightest, “the worst bill of the year.” She added that, “the bill went through absolutely no process, never got a hearing in the Senate. We refused to hear it because it’s stupid.”

What drove key legislators to pass a dead idea? Since new teachers get a huge payday just for producing SAT/ACT scores above the 80th percentile, Teach for America is an obvious benefactor. The extra $10,000 will bring these largely non-union teachers, who take the job for 2 years, closer to a $55K salary. Teach for America shares a chummy relationship with Florida’s reform-minded legislators who allocated the group $5 million dollars in Florida’s 2014 budget and similar amounts in previous years.

Fresen, who insists that the Best & Brightest will attract smart new teachers, is blind to the fact that ACT/SAT scores are not a predictor of professional success. ACT executive, Wayne Camera, told the Tampa Bay Times, “In our view, there would seem to be other measures of academic performance, more recent than ACT scores, which would better reflect teachers’ skills and competency.”

Back in the day, before Ed Reform took root, Florida paid around $10,000 to teachers who passed the rigorous National Board Certification. The state’s pro-education reform politicians stopped funding that incentive when education policy lobbyists, including former Gov. Jeb Bush, decided Board certification was too costly and does not impact student success.

Even more important, Universities such as prestigious Georgetown are no longer requiring ACT or SAT scores for admission. A growing list of 180 universities has made these tests optional. They believe a student’s academic record is a much more reliable indicator of success than a single test such as ACT or SAT. Can’t the same be said about teachers? So, is the Best & Brightest meant to bolster the politically connected College Board and the flagging credibility of its SAT test?

It’s hard to say which is more ridiculous – The notion that teachers should be paid rather large sums for their teenage test scores, that new teachers should have a better chance at the money than career professionals or the lore about how Fresen “got the idea” for the Best & Brightest.

Apparently, after reading “The Smartest Kids in the World” by Amanda Ripley, Fresen felt Florida should mimic other countries and erect barriers to becoming a teacher, a bar exam of sorts. That Fresen sees his SAT/ACT score hurdle as an effective “carrot” and not a bad policy is alarming.

The real problem is that pulling a notion out of a pop culture book to justify an unfair policy that favors Teach for America buddies and inexperience over professional educators just isn’t very impressive. It’s lazy and lacks imagination. Like Sen. Detert said, it’s “stupid.” The Best & Brightest, like so many education reforms, is one heck of a $44 million dollar piece of ridiculousness.

These grades are a road map for voters. When your favorite Senator repeatedly gets an A grade from these folks, that’s a sign. It’s a big part of why legislators are willing to look foolish as they defy all logic to pass policies that hurt children and harm public schools.

Since 2009, parents, teachers, grandparents, districts and students have raised a mighty voice against the mind-numbing, narrowed curriculum, disrespect to teaching and the insane numbers of unfair high stakes tests. Every major newspaper has repeatedly demanded better from legislators. Despite all objections, politicians follow the plan and spend millions of public dollars on vendors, often in support of schemes promoted by wealthy ROI philanthropists eyeing a piece of what Joel Klein and others see as a $600 billion dollar education industry.

Sadly, it’s not enough to drive get out the vote numbers. Voters must know who they are voting for. Take Florida’s Orange County Delegation: There are 13 members and 8 of them got As from Jeb’s Foundation. These legislators carry the water for a particular, extreme policy group, not for voters. Parents seeking relief from Florida’s abusive education reform policies will get zero help from these lawmakers.

Orange County Delegation 13 members/8 A grades from FFF:

Sen. Hays, R, Dist. 11

Sen. Gardner, R, Dist. 13

Sen. Soto, D, Dist. 14

Sen. Stargel, R, Dist, 15

Rep Cortes, R, Dist 30

Rep. Sullivan, R, Dist. 31

Rep. Eisnaugle, R, Dist. 44

Rep. Miller, R, Dist. 47

The remaining 5 members of the Orange delegation who voted or advocated against high stakes testing, tying teacher pay to test scores, corporate tax voucher expansion, handing over voter approved public school tax millage to for profit charters and other measures received considerably lower grades, including an F for Orange’s Rep Bracy, D, Dist. 45.

Voters must understand that politicians who push policy agendas such as School reform are rewarded in many ways. Money pours into races from PACs such as the American Federation for Children and the Florida Federation for Children. And the education reform/privatization agenda seeks to redefine “local control” to reference state legislatures. As a result, duly-elected Florida school board members are under attack for disagreeing with reformers.

It’s interesting to look at a smaller Florida district whose entire delegation is under the sway of education reform. Superintendent Walt Griffin recently wrote a letter to Commissioner Pam Stewart asking to allow Seminole to return to paper and pencil, abandon the state’s troubled FSA and switch to a nationally norm referenced test such as the ACT. How much support will Griffin get from his public servants?

Seminole County Delegation: All 5 members received an A grade from FFF:

Sen. Simmons, R, Dist. 10

Rep. Brodeur, R, Dist. 28

Rep. Plakon, R, Dist. 29

Rep. Cortes, R. Dist. 30

Those who work to advance high stakes education reform policies cross all political stripes. If a candidate is not willing to turn down education reform campaign funding, that’s a problem. If a candidate refuses to oppose using tax dollars to create multiple uneven, unfair school systems, that’s a deal-breaker.

We have reached a point where a candidate’s dedication to investing in and improving public education must be a litmus test for service. Legislators often give constituents less than 2 minutes to talk in Tallahassee while policy lobbyists such as Jeb’s Foundation for Florida’s Future are afforded unparalleled access across the board.

Using power and money to drive policy and elections is not restricted to Florida. The Foundation for Florida’s Future is part of an established national agenda. In fact, its affiliated with the Foundation for Excellence in Education National, whose motto is: Turning Reform into Reality.

It’s a cruel irony that politicians are so eager to earn grades for passing policies that hurt children. Now voters must use these education reform “loyalty grades” as a tool to weed out politicians who don’t deserve reelection.

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